Kentucky freshman guard Jada Walker (11) dribbles the ball against South Carolina Upstate on Dec. 19. Kentucky’s SEC opener on Thursday night at Auburn was postponed due to COVID-19 issues in the Tigers’ program.
For the second time this month, the Kentucky women’s basketball program has had a game postponed due to COVID-19 issues for an opponent.
The first time came for UK’s penultimate non-conference game at home against Morgan State on Dec. 17.
Now, Kentucky’s Southeastern Conference opener — scheduled for Thursday night at Auburn — has also been affected.
It was announced Sunday morning that due to a combination of a positive COVID-19 test, contact tracing and the subsequent quarantining of individuals in the Auburn women’s basketball program, Thursday’s game between Auburn and Kentucky will be postponed.
The SEC recently updated its interrupted game policies for basketball. It required a conference men’s or women’s basketball team to play if it has at least seven scholarship players and one coaching staff member available.
But, if a school believes there are “other compelling circumstances that warrant delay” the school may request that a game is postponed.
According to the SEC, if a game is postponed then efforts will be made to reschedule the game. If a game can’t be rescheduled, then the game will be recorded as a no contest.
Kentucky is now seeking a replacement game for this week.
The Wildcats were unable to replace Morgan State on the schedule earlier this month.
As of now, the next scheduled game for Kentucky is at home on Jan. 3 against Mississippi State.
Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on the University of Kentucky women’s basketball program, in addition to other college, high school and professional sports in the area. Drummond is a first-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University in 2020. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter for the Austin American-Statesman newspaper in Austin, Texas.
